A multipurpose compactor is suitable in particular for compacting cohesive soils in trenching, in channel and pipeline construction, in railway and embankment construction, for construction back filling, in landfill construction, and for substructure and foundation work. Furthermore, the multipurpose compactor can be used as a trench roller, for example, for compaction work in the case of road and landscape design, road making, and also in the case of large areas.
Equipping a multipurpose compactor with a remote control, via which the multipurpose compactor is remote controllable, is known. The remote control can communicate with the multipurpose compactor via a cable or wirelessly. In order that an operator of the multipurpose compactor, who controls the multipurpose compactor via the remote control in particular, is not in danger of being run over entirely or at least partially by the multipurpose compactor, a safety system is typically provided. For example, the safety system comprises one, preferably two emergency stop levers, which form the frontmost and/or rearmost end of the multipurpose compactor and which cause an emergency stop upon contact with a resistance. It is thus ensured that the multipurpose compactor stops immediately and does not cause damage in the event of bumping the operator or another person on the construction site.
Safety systems which can estimate distances with the help of infrared (IR) or ultrasonic sensors are known too. By means of measuring the delay or the intensity of signals the distances can be calculated. It turned out that these systems used on construction sites are interference-prone due to dirt, unintended reflections etc. and that they can only observe a relatively narrow area due to the directional characteristic of transmitters and receivers. Therefore, these systems are not adequate for multipurpose compactors on construction sites.